When Richard B. ran into a California Walgreens on a recent hot afternoon, he quickly grabbed a Cool Blue Gatorade to quench his thirst.

At first, the slim 24-ounce bottle didn’t seem out of ordinary, he told Modern Retail. But on second look, “I noticed it was strangely small for the three-ish dollars I paid for it,” he said. The bottle was slimmer, a far cry from the classic chunky 32-ounce bottle he was used to. On Twitter, he called out companies like Gatorade for using “child psychology” to get away with shrinkflation.

ichard told Modern Retail that he’s in a comfortable income bracket, so small purchases like that don’t affect his overall habits as they would a lower-income family. “But I just think it’s dishonest that big companies are shrinking products and charging more, all while using psychology to get away with it,” he said.

The packaging phenomenon is known as shrinkflation. It’s a tactic that’s been used for decades by brands, especially during recessions to improve their margins not by raising prices, but by shrinking package sizes instead. But since the last recession, people now have more ways than ever to call out corporations for what they view as a greedy tactic designed to offer customers less for more money. Hundreds of social media posts, and a slew of online coverage are particularly helping document the current wave of shrinkflation, with users posting photographic evidence of shrunken package sizes. There is even an entire subreddit, r/shrinkflation, dedicated to calling out brands’ before and after portions, that has accumulated more than 37,000 members. Meanwhile, the hashtag #shrinkflation has become more popular in the past year on Twitter and Instagram.

Indeed, PepsiCo was honestly in its latest earnings about using smaller formats, done to strengthen margins and cut costs. And PepsiCo is hardly the only CPG giant doing it. From Doritos to Wheat Thins to Pampers, many grocery brands are shrinking on shelves. Even family-size packets are being impacted, with General Mills reducing its family-size cereal boxes by 10% last year — from 19.3 ounces to 18.1 ounces.

Shrinkflation takes over social media

Retail data firm 84.51°’s August Consumer Digest found that shoppers are noticing the topshrinking pack sizes to be among chips (51%), cereal (37%), candy bars (29%) and toilet paper (26%).

Shrinkflation not only means people are getting less bang for their buck, but it also can make life more difficult for some shoppers. Some members of the WIC [Women, Infants, Children nutrition] program report that the changing SKU sizes are making it more difficult to get certain items covered.